27. 08. 10. - 12:00

Kampusch taken on 13 trips by abductor, leaked files show

The sick paedophile who kidnapped Natascha Kampusch on her way to school in 1998 took her on more than a dozen trips during the following eight and a half years, leaked police documents have confirmed.

Interview protocols with Kampusch, 21, show that she was taken on 13 various shopping trips and one-day outings by Wolfgang Priklopil before escaping his clutches in August 2006.

The files – revealed by Greens MP Peter Pilz – show that the pervert took Kampusch on cycling outings around town, shopping trips to a budget fashion shop and on a trip to a building equipment tool store.

Kampusch herself revealed in a remarkable TV interview only a few days after she had freed herself that Priklopil had also taken her on a one-day skiing trip to the Hochkar region.

The documents presented by Pilz reveal that they left the house in Strasshof an der Nordbahn just outside Vienna at least 13 times together.

The documents show that Kampusch failed to take advantage of her chance when they were stopped by policemen after Priklopil had breached traffic rules in spring 2006 – half a year before she fled.

"I tried to make one of the police officers aware of my situation by rolling my eyes," Kampusch said in police questioning sessions after her escape, adding that she thought the policemen’s lives would have been at too high a risk had she told them what was going on.

Previously leaked information seems to confirm that bungling police failed conscientiously to follow up information leading to the abductor – who committed suicide hours after Kampusch fled – only days after the kidnapping.

A police canine squad leader informed officers of the special "SoKo Natascha" investigative group that he knew a "loner with a sexual tendency towards young children" living just kilometres from the Vienna street Kampusch had lived on.

The officer told his investigating colleagues that the person owned a white van as mentioned by a witness of the abduction.

Authorities however reportedly ensured the blunders would not come to public attention to avoid a scandal potentially forcing leading officials and politicians to step down.

Meanwhile, Kampusch’s lawyer Gerald Ganzger is understood to have held talks with his client over pressing compensation claims against the Republic of Austria.

Kampusch – who lives a secluded life in Vienna and rarely gives interviews these days – could be awarded up to half a million Euros, according to experts.

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